Swedish pilot flew 13 years without licence
Published: 3 Mar 10 17:02 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/25330/20100303/
A 41-year-old Swedish man with a forged pilot's licence was arrested in the cockpit of a plane in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening as he prepared to take off for Turkey with 101 passengers on board.
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Expressing relief that his duplicity had come to light, the Swede claimed he had flown for 13 years with a forged licence for companies in the UK, Belgium and Italy, spending a total of 10,000 unlicensed hours in the air.
Dutch police said they were able to arrest the 41-year-old on suspicion of holding a fake pilot licence thanks to a tip-off from the Swedish authorities.
The Swede, resident in Milan, had once possessed a Commercial Pilot's Licence (CPL) but this had long since expired, Dutch police said. He subsequently forged an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL), the highest level of aircraft pilot licence and one which enabled him to fly large passenger planes.
An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for Friday, March 5th.
Following the arrest, Turkey's Corendon Airlines was quickly able to bring in a replacement pilot and the plane left for Ankara at the scheduled time.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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He has not crushed his plane whereas many with a licence has crashed their planes.
ha ha
Do you think his 10,000 unlicensed hours in the air should be counted for future employment positions.
So although he forged a licence, he would have done his simulator training every year, had medicals and was certainly fit to fly. He would have had conversion training on ant=y new aircraft types he has flown as well. So really not a safety question.
RELAX but insist on see the pilots licence next time you fly. Well they ask for ID when you buy something with a credit card...
The article says
"The Swede, resident in Milan, had once possessed a Commercial Pilot's Licence (CPL) but this had long since expired, Dutch police said. He subsequently forged an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL)"
a A CPL is a licence to fly multi-engined commercial aircraft and is the requisite qualification to get an ATPL. When anybody is employed to fly for an airline he must take a check to get the aircraft type that he is going to fly, on his licence. Thereafter he has to take annual medicals and concurrency checks with a line pilot employed by the airline. He was competent to fly but had not kept his licence current so forged one
You wrote in your first mail 'The pilot in question had a ATPL'.
In your second you quote the article which says he once had a CPL (long expired) and had FORGED an ATPL - so he did not have a ATPL according to the article - so why do you say he did..
A CPL may allow you to operate a multi engine aircraft but only if it single pilot operation (so a small commercial aircraft) or be a co-pilot on multi crew operations. But why did he forge an ATPL. Well that allows you to be a commander on the aircraft and that makes it a whole new ball game and requires a higher level of competence.
If he got away with it much longer they might as well give him retirement or at least a promotion. If you read carefully he is a trained pilot so there is/was no real safety issue (anymore) he has put in the hours. so in short he was a few years ago a naughty boy, now it is just bureaucracy going overboard. the regulators now have egg on their faces because they let him through, It would have been much better to secretly catch him and make him sit the exam for the licence he has been holding.... not tell everyone they mucked up big time by failing to catch him for 13 years ...Give the man a gold watch!
I've read that pilots routinely have training and exams to prove that they can handle a wide set of possible malfunctions and incidents. Many of these incidents are rare enough that a pilot can go for 13 years without facing them outside of these simulated training events. But if they DO happen in a real-life situation, you want a pilot who has taken the training as he's supposed to.
Several years ago there was a "doctor" in Nova Scotia working in a hospital emergency room saving lives, etc, and apparently was very brilliant. Turns out he had fraudulent credentials and had never gone to medical school at all.
- he did not live in Sweden
- he did not fly for a Swedish registered airline
- he did not fly in Swedish airspace
They had had several requests for confirmation of his credentials from airlines and had informed all who checked that he was not eligible to fly
Outrageous.....Sure is! But he sure have more experience after 13 years of flying. Iam quite sure I would mind be on his plane. They should maybe give him a fine and give him a license. Sure in this case he shouldn't go unpunish......hats off to him for all the safe flights.
Facts..
He was a Captain with Corendon, and the AMS base Captain
He was promoted in Air One about 1997-1998
He left Air One and flew briefly for a Leeds-based low-cost carrier, based in BFS
He has been a Captain with Corendon since 2008
I have worked with him and alongside him in all 3 airlines
He was extremely proficient in handling the B737, had training as TRI, and never had any problem with checks
http://www.milliyet.com.tr/sorguda-sucunu-itiraf-eden-cakma-pilot-un-isine-son/turkiye/sondakika/04.03.2010/1207011/default.htm?ver=50
He has passed all the stuff for the requirements but right now, he lost his job.
Let me say, I believe in experience more than education.
hehe
NO Airline can or will allow a pilot who has not got a current type rating in the cockpit. And the CAA of the country where he is based must be shown the evidence that he has done his sim checks with the companies licenced TRE/IRE and that he has had an annual medical. In any case when he started, like all pilots, he flew the right hand seat. Read the quote from a colleague who knows him that I posted earlier he was made up to captain in 2008
Take a look at pprune.org and find the thread ther where Professional pilots talk about the whole matter. There is NO suggestion in any of the posts that he was a danger to anybody. And these are the guys in the sharp end who are looking after their own lives ahead of those of the SLC ( Self loading cargo ) at the back
The guy learnt to fly most probably the same way as I did at a flying school and got a PPL he then went further and got an instrument rating and a twin engine rating for CPL which allowed him to fly as PIC in an aircraft with a max take-off weight of 12,500 lbs. If you dont get in enough hours in any year your licence lapses which seems to be what happened to him. He then forged a licence and went out job hunting, got a job and was trained on the 737 aircraft and got his type rating on that aircraft. he must have been checked at least once a year since then.
He is a cheat and most probably a bit of a Walter Mitty character but he is not and never has been a danger to passengers.
It is really a bit like claiming that you have the required certificates to get into University when you have'nt but study and pass your exams and get a degree
So speaks an ex-military ATPL holder who drives big kites for a very large (and in the news a lot) British airline
In my day you moved up in the right hand seat from smaller to bigger aircraft and when you did get offered the left hand seat it was usually back in the twin T/P you started off in.
It seems to me that some people seem to think that getting a pilots licence is like a car drivers licence pass one short test and bingo set for life
Aviation joke.
A guy is standing in a bar and another guy walks in, come up and orders a beer, he smells bad and is covered in toilet paper. The first guy says "you stink". The second guy says yes I do, I drive the honey waggon at the airport and sometime the valve gets stuck and the comes out the side and gets allover you just like now. First guy says "seems like a bad job is there nothing else you can do?"
"Plenty and better paid" says the guy. "So why not change jobs" says the first guy
To which the reply was...
"What, and leave aviation?"
Think I'd rather drive the 'Honey Wagon' than fly fro Ryan Air
you guys can invite each other for a drink and blah blah amicably or in watever means you both deem necessary. :( hehehehe
"The real questions. Why did it take so long to catch him? Is he the only unlicensed pilot flying? Whose is responsible for this post 9/11 security breach? 13 Years? That's almost a career".
This situation gives a good picture of employment in Sweden, if you are ethnic then your qualification or non qualification is better than any immigrant with a sound qualification for the same job.
I could make a bet that there are more like him in Sweden and outside Sweden.
Unless you are an authority on the matter and have something to tell us about the usefulness (or lack of it) of these programs, you should just shut up and let the pros do their job. That means not allowing people to pilot a plane unless they've followed all the necessary rules.
BETTER THAN TIGER WOODS !
Now adays its the certificate that makes you a human not you!! if you dont study their stupid way!! you are void!! you have to study frueds Ideas to become a psychologist you have to learn some other dumb az ideas to become a sociologist.
BUT pilot doctor is something danerous!! thing to pretend
Winters, storms, technical problems, all kind of difficulties...
He is a Teacher.
There I was upside down with nothing on the clock but the makers name
well if they tried to arrest him ealier then that hardly counts as a 'claim' that they know nothing about him. The opposite surely?
FACT